Figurative Language in King's "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)

Learn the vocabulary that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to inspire a generation to break free from the "manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination."

On August 28, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Speaking from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., King stood before an estimated quarter of a million people who had gathered to demonstrate for passage of the Civil Rights Act.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of
oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an
oasis of freedom and justice.